Google introduces Google Home, Google Assistant and Daydream

Google announced several new products at its annual conference Wednesday, including the much-anticipated Google Home, a virtual reality program called Daydream and the Android Wear 2.0.

Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google, said the Google Assistant is meant to be more conversational than other voice activation system, and Google Home, which will be available later this year, will allow people to seamlessly communicate with that assistant from their phone to the Google Home device in their living room.

Pichai gave credit to Amazon for the Amazon Echo for creating the home device market, and said Google’s goal was to make its assistant more conversational.

Google Home has search built in, so it uses Google’s search engine to answer any questions.

“You will get immediate, accurate answers from Google each time,” said Mario Quieroz, vice president of product management at Google.

Quieroz added that Google Home could also help you plan travel, manage your schedule, play music, track packages and plan other everyday tasks.

To demonstrate how Google Assistant would work, Pichai used movie tickets as an example, saying he wanted to look at movies playing for four members of his family. The assistant showed some options, and then Pichai said he wanted family friendly options. The assistant narrowed it to family friendly movies, and then asked if he would like tickets to any of them. Pichai said he wanted them to the Jungle Book, and the assistant automatically ordered four tickets to the movie, without Pichai needing to repeat how many tickets they needed or enter payment information.

Google Assistant is an improvement on the current voice recognition software Google Now.

Erik Kay, director of engineering, introduced Allo, a new Google messaging application. Allo allows users to message each other while incorporating search into the conversation, allowing them to easily find photos or videos within conversations.

It also includes a “whisper/shout” feature, that allows users to make messages larger or smaller to express their feelings, in addition to emojis.

You can have a conversation with Google Assistant in Allo, and the assistant will remember your name and previous information in the conversation, such as your favorite sports teams. That way you can ask it, “Did my team win?” And it will know which team you’re talking about.

Allo will be available on both Android and iOS devices in the summer, Kay said.

Daydream is Google’s version of virtual reality. Clay Bavor, vice president of virtual reality, said Google’s goal was to make an experience that was mobile, approachable, comfortable and interactive.

Part of that challenge was creating a low latency, or the amount of time it takes virtual reality to catch up when someone turns their head while wearing the headset. Bavor said they had now cut latency down to 20 milliseconds.

“If you nail that, it just feels like you’re there,” Bavor said.

Daydream also works with Google Play to create Daydream Home, so users can have the headset on and use the controller with an orientation sensor to browse a menu within virtual reality. The homescreen allows users to select movies, games, news and other applications with virtual reality programs.

Daydream will be available in the fall.

Finally, David Singleton, vice president of engineering, introduced the Android Wear 2.0, a watch considered a major improvement over its original version. The applications on the watch can stand alone, so your phone doesn’t have to be nearby for the watch to work. That means it can track activity, play music, take calls and send and receive messages on its own.

The watch was made with fitness in mind, allowing users to listen to music while working out without needing to bring their phone with them.

“You don’t have to wear your phone in a clunky armband, you can just go,” Singleton said.

The watch will also automatically start tracking a work out when the wearer begins running, Singleton said. Android Wear 2.0 will be available in the fall.

Android N, the new operating system, also comes with several improvements. Users can use a split screen on both tablets and phones, a picture-in-picture mode (viewing a small screen in the corner while doing something else on the main screen), and a “clear all” button for tabs. There will also be 72 new emojis, including a shark, a selfie and several depicting women in professional roles, such as doctors and engineers.

This story was originally published May 18, 2016 at 1:42 PM with the headline "Google introduces Google Home, Google Assistant and Daydream."